Ashour was born in Gaza City in 1940. He was a long-time Fateh activist and has been a member of the Fateh party since its creation in 1959. He was involved in organizing Fateh members in Europe from 1960 until 1967 before moving to Lebanon after Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza in 1967 war, where he was responsible for organizing Fateh members in Lebanon. Since 1968 he has been a member of the Fateh Revolutionary Council, where he served as secretary general. He was also a Fateh representative on the Palestinian Legislative Council’s central committee.